1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to speed regulation and, more particularly, to a system for regulating the traveling speed of a motor vehicle by controlling the proportion of fuel-air mixture supplied to an engine in the motor vehicle in accordance with deviation of the actual traveling speed of the motor vehicle from a desired speed.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Many systems for regulating the traveling speed of a motor vehicle in order to automatically maintain the speed of the motor vehicle constant are known in the prior art, and it is desirable in such systems that the change in actual traveling speed be very small in response to load variations, such as those resulting from changes in the level of the road along with a motor vehicle is traveling. Additionally, such systems are preferably operable such that at the initiation of use of the system, an adjusting element cooperating with the engine is operated by a control device to be placed in the position required to control the operation of the vehicle as quickly as possible in order to assure a rapid transition from the traveling speed controlled by the driver to the automatically regulated traveling speed. In order to provide the latter feature, the system must have a high adjustment speed; however, such a high adjustment speed has the disadvantage of causing jerky or abrupt transition when the speed at which it is desired for the motor vehicle to travel is changed by the driver since, in this case, the adjustment element is initially brought into the full throttle position and then returned to the position required for maintenance of the desired speed. In order to overcome the jerky transition provided by prior art systems producing a quick take-over from manual to automatic operation, the adjustment response of such systems has been reduced thereby producing an undesired compromise between the desired response requirements for normal load variations and changes in desired speed.